Mikey goes to Germany (Long Version)

[Michael LaRosa <76761.1444@compuserve.com>]

Ok,  some of you may remember me asking for advice on
my trip to Germany.....  Here is the story of what happened :-)

Lets' see, left Boston on a Sunday 3 hours late due to a Bad
PCB board on the plane.  Good Start eh? started with 3 pieces of 
luggage... we'll get back to that later.... 

Arrived in London at 7:30am (3 hours late) to catch a 
connecting flight to Munich leaving at 7:45am in a 
different terminal.  NOT.

Time to find another flight..... eventually got a Lufthansa flight.

Get to Munich and now we have only 2 pieces of luggage :-(
They have no idea where the 3rd one is......

After looking at the train station map for 20 minutes or so
I finally feel comfortable enough that maybe I can figure 
out how to get to the hotel :-)

Eventually get off at the correct stop, now to get a taxi to the
hotel...... my new saying now is 'speaken ze english ?" :-)

So you ask where is the Audi content here ?  The Taxi was
a new A6 :-) cool.  I feel much better now, something familiar :-)

As it turns out losing your heaviest bag at the airport can be a
good thing,  they delivered it to the hotel the next morning just
in time for me to change before my ride to the office arrived :-)

Back to Sunday....

Exploring Munich I saw lots of Audi 80s of the 88+ body style
The only car I saw more where VW golfs.....

Noticed lotsa german cars come in wagons,  Audi 80 & 100,
BMW 3 & 5 series, even VW Golfs.... lotsa but ugly fords too,
I saw something that looked a bad copy of a mercedes in front 
and a buick skylark in the back.... yuck...

My hotel was right next to a V.A.G. Audi / VW dealer :-)  Unfortunately
it was very small, only enough room for 3 Audis in the showroom, A6, A4,
and Cabriolet.  No stuff for me to take home either, not even a calendar :-(

I did discover that I am working for a company in which the owner drives
an 83 TQC as his daily driver :-) he also had a V8Q that he inherited from 
the Country Manager of a company he bought until the lease ran out, and 
the his has an S4 Wagon :-)  I knew this was a great company!!!

Ok, Thursday rolls around and I get on board the ICE train for Nurnberg,
This thing flies....  I think somebody mentioned something about speeds
in the range of 270-280kmh!!

Nurnburg is where I see my first A8 in the flesh, err metal ?....  Black/Ecru
Nice looking car.  I especially like the Chrome shift gate ala ferrari style.  
This is also where someone starts yelling at me from a window because I'm 
walking around his car.... time to go :-)

Well I didn't get to drive at all, but I did go for a cruise with the boss
at 245kmh in his 9000 turbo :-)
 
Sorry guys and girls most people I talked to did not speak english.....

I had pizza for dinner one night using the point and show money
method :-)

It turns out the bosses 14 year old son is an Audi fanatic and gives
me 4 posters of the A4 in competition accross Europe BIG SMILY face!!!
One is a cutaway shot.... cool... didn't know they were using the 1.8
four....  all I have to do now is find something with regards to bicycle 
racing for his son.... any ideas ?

Well thats it folks :-)

Oh one other thing everybody in development loved the picture
of my V8 with the company name license plate :-)

Scored a few brownie points.... 

Thanks for reading this far if you did...

Glad to be almost back,  (currently 35k feet over greenland....)

Oh but wait, the passenger sitting next to me just commented
about my e-mail concering Audis.  He just bought a new A4 :-)  

Small World......


Mike L.
89 100 Avant
90 V8Q (License Plate... INCASE)
INCASES Engineering N.A.